Carol honoured for pursuit of pirates

Leading Regulator Carol Morton-Harrowsmith pictured as the navy detains suspected pirates, who were known to have been operating in the Indian Ocean and were intercepted on board a hijacked Yemeni fishing dhow.

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BUSTING Somali pirates has earned a navy police rating the honour of being nominated for a top military award.

Leading regulator Carol Morton-Harrowsmith was highly commended in the Most Outstanding Sailor category at the fifth annual Sun Military Awards (Millies).

The 38-year-old was nominated for her work with the United Kingdom Counter-Piracy Task Group in 2011 as the group’s only detainee handling officer.

She said: ‘It was an honour and privilege to have my operational efforts recognised in this manner and at such a high level.

‘It was an absolute pleasure to stand shoulder to shoulder with all the other nominees from across the tri-service spectrum present at these Millies Awards. It was a very memorable and truly fantastic experience.’

It was thanks to the leading regulator’s hard work with the counter-piracy task group that several Somali pirates were prosecuted by Italian authorities. She was deployed for five months in the Indian Ocean and was involved in two incidents with bands of Somali pirates.

A pirate attack on the Italian MV Montecristo was disrupted by the task group’s arrival on the scene.

And it was leading regulator Morton-Harrowsmith’s preservation of evidence that led to the pirates being swiftly prosecuted.

The 38-year-old joined the Royal Navy in 1995 and is currently serving with the Royal Navy police in HMS Collingwood in Fareham carrying out general policing duties.

She lives in Gosport with her civil partner Tracey.

The Sun Military Awards celebrates nine categories of servicemen and women for their bravery and professionalism.

Corporal Justin Morgan was named the country’s Most Outstanding Sailor after he braved 50ft waves and gale force winds to rescue a man who had fallen from a yacht.

The ceremony was attended by the Price of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at the Imperial War Museum in London.